Palazzo Farnese

The house that Paul built

A rare chance to see Rome’s second most celebrated ceiling

TWO cherubs spy on the moon goddess Diana who has been lured to earth by the beauty of a sleeping shepherd, Endymion. As the goddess embraces her beloved, one cherub holds a finger to his lips, as if telling the other: “Do not disturb”. It is one of many delightful portrayals of mythological love adorning the magnificent fresco by Annibale Carracci in Rome's Palazzo Farnese. This Renaissance palace is one of the city's most impressive and, after the Sistine chapel, the Carracci fresco is its most celebrated ceiling.

Sadly for art lovers, “Do not disturb” might as well have been the motto of the French embassy which has had a 99-year lease on the palace since 1936 (and was in residence even before). Now, briefly, the current ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sablière, has opened most of its artistically important rooms. For the first time in history the public is being welcomed to the palace, the occasion an exhibition, “Palazzo Farnese”, which runs until April 27th.

Most of the world-famous Farnese collection of paintings, monumental statues from antiquity and other objects are displayed in museums in Naples. (When the male line died out in 1731, the collection passed to Charles III, king of Naples.) In 2007, soon after Mr de la Sablière took up his post, he had the inspired idea of uniting the family's art with the palace for which the pieces were collected. To carry out this “mad idea”, loans have come, from Naples mainly, but also from elsewhere, including the Louvre. This show tells the story of the palace and of the powerful Farnese family that built it. The result is an exciting, informative and aesthetic knockout.

The exhibition occupies the piano nobile of the palace. Its corridors and rooms are gargantuan. In the grande salle, the enormous room that introduces the visitor to the Farnese desire to ally the family with mythic heroes, a copy of the Roman marble known as the Farnese Hercules (which is over ten feet or three metres tall) looks almost human-sized. Along with the Farnese Bull—a mountain of marble carved from a single block of stone, the largest surviving sculpture from antiquity— the original Hercules has stayed in Naples. These statues are too old, too precious and too heavy to be moved.

Soon the visitor is face-to-face with one of the masterpieces of Western art: Titian's portrait of Pope Paul III. Alessandro Farnese (1468-1549) was 66 when he was elected pope. His ambition, cunning and drive helped to transform a family of the minor nobility into a major force. In 1517, to demonstrate his lofty position and to enhance it, work on the palace began. He sponsored excavations of the Baths of Caracalla in the city, thereby acquiring the most extraordinary finds. The Farnese Bull and Hercules were among them.

The palace itself is a work of art, above all the room with Carracci's luminous, lyrical ceiling. The various tableaux are shown as trompe l'oeil framed pictures. In each one, gods cavort with lusty abandon (before Alessandro Farnese became pope, he fathered four children by his mistress). Seeing this ceiling at long last is a wonderful experience, if a little hard on the neck. Unkindly, there are no places to sit anywhere in the show.

The room devoted to the feats of the Farnese proves to be something of a knockout too. Its vast walls were decorated by Francesco Salviati and his frescoes celebrate the family's heroic deeds. The men are larger than life. Between them, “windows” open on to decisive battles. This is the ambassador's office. Even now, during this exceptional open house, ticket-holders can see it only at weekends from inside a roped-off enclosure.

The exhibition's subtitle “ From Renaissance Palace to French Embassy” spotlights a propagandist goal. France's lease, at a peppercorn rent, expires in 2035. The country is justly proud of maintaining the building so well; it also cherishes the prestige its ambassadors gain from holding meetings in its rooms. The fact that its occupation of a treasure house keeps the public out is a trickier subject. Publicity for the show, its catalogue and wall-texts are in Italian, of course, but also in French. Most of the objects on loan advance the educational mission: instructing visitors about the Farneses and their close relations with France. Art rather suffers as a result.

The great majority of the masterpieces remain in Naples, and can and should be seen there. But also go, if you possibly can, to Rome this spring to see the Palazzo Farnese and its glorious rooms.